A Place of Miracles!‏

To All I love (which is anyone who reads this),

So I literally have NO IDEA where to begin!!  You know how I am going to be gone till Feb. 2016? Well, apparently this mission president prefers to keep the sisters out for close to 19 months.  So if you are coming to Temple Square under this Mission Presidents direction you will more than likely serve just shy of 19 months. I was a little shocked but I LOVE it here so I'm not complaining.   I wanted to be home in time for Christmas and other 'reasons' ;) but I can wait 6 more weeks! I only get the chance to do this once. 

 

You're probably all wondering what's been happening this past week. Well this past Wednesday, Aug. 6th, we woke up literally at the crack of dawn. I was so tired by the end of the day. When we arrived to Temple Square we were greeted by the AP's (Assistant to the President) and OA's (Office Assistants). Dad, guess who was one of the first sisters I had the chance to meet?? Sister Briggs!!! I love her to death!!!

 

 

She is the sweetest person ever! I hope you don't mind but I told her about how we would follow her blog and there would be times you would say "Jen did you read what happened to Sister Briggs's this week??" She got a good laugh out of it. They then took us to the mission office which, for our mission, is under Temple Square. They gathered together all 11 of us newbies. We just filled out a bunch of paperwork and then we had interviews. Nothing all that special happened there. Can I just tell you though, I love my Mission President and his wife! They are so sweet. I have only met Sister Poulsen once (this morning), because she fell earlier last week and broke her wrist and will go in Thursday for surgery. They are ALWAYS so happy and so concerned!

 

You are probably wanting to know about my companion (trainer). After a good 5 hour wait, we were paired up with our Trainers. My trainer is Sister Casagrande from FRANCE!!

She is soooo sweet!!! She is always saying "You are so good." LITERALLY I hear it about 30x a day. It's funny - I'm like "umm no I'm not" and her reply is "No, but you are so good." It's really quite funny. She is from Djon (the city of mustard). And get this, she played the harp just about everyday for 6-7 hours a day! Yah, I would die if I had to play an instrument that long. But she played with an Orchestra there for a long time so that makes sense. She is always finding ways to do things for me. She bought me a bunt cake the other day cause she is like "you are just so good. I'm going to buy you a bunt cake." She made me banana pancakes the other day for companionship study. That is good especially with honey on top!

And then this morning she made my bed for me. I just love her. She reminds me a lot of Josh. Veryyyy very patient with me! Since my companion is from France she obviously speaks French fluently which means WE get to take about 3 French tours a day!! Now that is hard. I have no idea how to speak French. The first day was a tad rough. Just imagine Sister Skaggs standing there in front of a family of 5 looking like a deer in the headlights with my companion just talking away. That describes the scene perfectly!  

 

 

Every night we talk about the day and so I finally asked if she could start teaching me French. The first night she taught me the missionary purpose in French and the very next day I was able to share it with a family of 5 and they actually understood me! By the end of this transfer my goal is to learn my testimony in French. And that will be the same from here on out with every foreign speaking sister I have as a companion.

 

 

When I got here all the Sisters asked where I was from. All I said was "You know Sister Tiritilli (a sister serving here that I have known my whole life) I live in her stake". Such an easy answer! EVERYONE knows and LOVES Sister Tiritilli! She came back from outbound last Thursday (August 7th). When we saw each other we both ran to each other and just hugged. It was exactly what I needed. She is like a big sister I never had! When she sees me she asks how I'm doing and is always making sure I'm doing okay. We are sooooo EXCITED to have Sister Sughroue join us next transfer! It's been such a blessing to have Sister Tiritilli here. And guess what??? She is in my District!! Out of 200 Sisters, 9 zones and about 20 or so Districts she is in my District.

 

Our days are pretty crazy! I'm on the early schedule which means I have a 6:15 a.m. wake up call. That means I have to go to bed at 10:15. We have gym time from 6:15-6:45 and then we get ready and eat for an hour and then personal study and companionship study for 2 hours. Then we hit the square! My companion has to attend English class every morning for 2 hours so I go on exchanges with other sisters each morning till noon. Then up until about 7:30 or so every night we have various assignments on Temple Square. Our main assignment is Temple Square so we just wander around. Then since I'm getting trained I have another hour of companionship study each night for an hour and then of course daily planning for 30 minutes and then an hour to get ready for bed.

 

In regards to how many people we see! It is busy. I missed lunch on Sunday because we had no time. I went a good 8 hours without being able to eat. But it's all good. I would rather be out working than wasting time eating. We get A LOT of '9999' texts which means they are in desperate need of sisters taking tours. Which means if you get a text and you are not at an assignment, on a telephone call in the TC (teaching center) or on a tour you are to take the tour. If you are eating you stop eating and you take the tour. We get 30 minutes to eat lunch and an hour for dinner.

 

FUNNY STORY:

So yesterday I was talking to this man at the miniature replica of Jerusalem when I look out of the corner of my eye and see sisters waving to me. When we finished talking I started walking over to the desk where the sisters were. All I hear is "yah that's Sister Skaggs." A group of 4 people turn around and this lady SCREAMS super LOUD, while she is running to me "Sister Skaggs!!!!" It was an EXACT RECREATION of what you would do mom!! NO JOKE! It creeped me out with how PERFECT she pulled off you! I was praying so hard while she was running to me because I had never seen these people before. And so I was trying to figure out who they were, how did they know me and what I would say to them while trying to be polite that I didn't remember them. Well the lady, Mcat is her name, while she was hugging me whispered into my ear "You have no idea who I am so don't worry. I'm friends with your mom." She kept saying to her friends "take a picture! I have to post this on Instagram and facebook!" It was one of the best things to have happened so far on my mission. Besides my first baptism, but I will get to that later! Anyways they explained to me that they met you through MMM (Middleaged Mormon Man). By the way mom, I thought you were doing better in regards to me being gone... I heard otherwise. Anyways I know you love me so that's all that matters! With Mcat there were three others, 2 of whom you know via facebook (Monique and David). It was SOOO FUNNY!

They were like "We need to take selfies right now with you and post it and send it to your parents!" (Thank you to the three of you for making my day). They said they follow my blog so that's why I put the shout-out.

 

First off, a mission is DEFINITELY not easy! Heavenly Father just LOVES to give me BLESSINGS (trials). It's a good thing I love Him! It's taken a little bit to adjust to being with a companion. It's mainly just the difference in culture and things like that, that I'm just adjusting to. I now realize why people say this mission is so hard! We meet different people ALL the time, we testify of the things we know are true, we give them tours, we answer their questions and we mainly give it all we have......and at the end they don't refer. It's hard to see this because we don't know what will ever come of these individuals. But they have their agency. In Preach my Gospel there is a section that talks about being a successful missionary. I just tell myself "You did what you were asked. You testified, you brought the spirit, you invited, now they have their agency to accept or reject the message you share. The seed has been planted in them and it's just not the right time for the seed to grow." I know Heavenly Father has a plan for them and the seed and it will take time.

 

Sister Skaggs "out of popcorn"!!

 

This past Sunday we had a baptism! It was my companions investigators. I don't think of it as one of MY baptisms but she, along with the other sisters, gets 'mad' when I say that. Super neat story!! So his name is Jean Herod from Haiti. I don't know all the logistics but I know he came back here to be baptized and then he will head back to Haiti tomorrow. He was baptized, confirmed and, get this, ordained a priest all in about 10 minutes. The Stake President said he felt very strongly that he needed to be ordained a priest right then and there. I think it was because of logistics etc. of where he lived in Haiti. That was such a neat blessing of being able to attend his baptism down in South Jordan.

 

The people are AMAZING here. Like I said earlier, it's really rough when people don't refer but I know they will be ready someday. We have about 8 new investigators all within a week. Super neat story! So this morning I was on exchanges with another sister and we were giving a tour to a member family of 5 and their non-member cousin. She has been attending church but hasn't met with the missionaries yet. As we were finishing the tour we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and to find out for herself if the things we have taught her and the things her family believes was true. She looked at me and was like "umm, I'm already one step ahead of you, I am already reading the Book of Mormon." Totally caught me off guard! We asked if we could stay in contact and she gladly agreed! She knows that God has a plan for her and that He will guide her in the direction she needs to go. We have had so many similar experiences with people like that! This place is filled with miracles! I LOVE IT HERE! I wouldn't trade being on a mission for the world.

 

It is hard, definitely hard, but I love it! Like I said before, Heavenly Father is just building me into the person he needs me to become. It's funny how all the weakness's that I have that will cause issues when I'm married (like patience etc.) He is really helping me now, which I'm grateful for it!

 

 

Elder Sandstrom, Sister Skaggs & Elder Isom - childhood/teenage friends -

in the MTC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I LOVE YOU ALL and feel SOOO blessed to be apart of such a great family! Boys I love you! Please continue to behave and to be the good righteous brothers I know you to be! Prepare yourselves for a mission! IT IS SUCH A GREAT THING! Mom and Dad, I love you! Thank you for everything! To everyone else, I love you too! Please continue to just trust in your Father in Heaven and do all that he needs you to do. Don't give up! We are given trials and weakness's so we can grow, my favorite scripture right now, that I'm more than cherishing, is Ether 12:27 [talks about having faith and being humble in our weaknesses and the Lord will make our weaknesses our strengths].

 

Until next week!

 

Sister Skaggs